Victorian Tile Cleaning and Sealing

Having removed the linoleum that covered the hallway floor, the client discovered an original Victorian Tiled floor buried underneath bitumen which had been used an adhesive, there was also some levelling screed that needed to be removed. The house was located in Caversham Reading, Berkshire, and the job had proved too difficult for the owner 

Having surrounded the area with protective tape to protect the wooden skirting etc. from splashing, the screed covering parts of the floor was and removed exposing the tiles underneath revealing more underlying bitumen, which is a horrible sticky black substance. Having applied a heavy build up (HBU) remover and leaving it for twenty minutes the bitumen had been made soft enough to be removed from the Victorian tiles using a black scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary machine running at slow speed. The resulting slurry was removed with a wet vacuum and the floor given a thorough rinse using a hot water extraction machine operating at low pressure that runs from a van based compressor.  

 

The black dye from the bitumen had bled into the surface of the tiles which was removed using a 100-grit followed by a 200-grit milling pad fitted to the rotary machine. After yet another rinse the tiles were looking fantastic and the floor was left to dry out. 

The customer wanted a matt finish, and the appropriate colour intensive impregnating sealer was applied in three coats leaving the tiles looking rich and vibrant. Both the porch and the hallway now look inviting.